Point me in the right direction please

[Brian Humphrey]

Hey everyone,

A little about myself, I have two kids 4 and 1 and a wife. I will be starting a new job that will be making a lot more than I make now which is not much. I have always been interested in real estate. So with this extra income and knowing we can live on less, I will save a decent amount. Now here is the problem, I been reading and not sure where to go first. I want to start a business and not do it under my name. So do I find my first investment and then make the business, or make the business then start looking? Does it matter? Should it be an LLC which Im thinknig it should for liabilty stand point. I also live in Wheeling, WV not much big business or anmything close by. I am having trouble finding any sinvestment support group or any close enough without driving to pittsburgh. Also, should I do three seperate businesses since I live clsoe to Ohio and PA? Im jsut lost on what to do and needed to be pointed in the right direction. I have a passion for rental niche with duplexs, apartment complex etc.. and also would like to get into flipping. I havent decided in wholesaling or anything like that and not sure with where I live if it would be worth it. I have a lot more questions but first will be first I'm sure I will be back to ask more and hopefully I can be an assistance back to everyone soon. Thank you for your answers.

[Jerry Kisasonak]

Do everything at once. Get the paperwork started on forming the LLC. Start looking at properties. If you don't have a local support group and don't want to travel, start one. Set up a Meetup.com group for Wheeling Real Estate Investors and a Facebook group the same thing. Start promoting the groups on Craigslist, Backpage, Facebook, Twitter, etc etc. Find a local venue that will allow you have monthly meetings free of charge. Restaurants who have back rooms/halls will often do this for free if you have your group orders dinner. The restaurant we do this at offers a free room if we have over 20 guests, which we always do. Under 20 people they would charge $100 for the room.

What I described to you is exactly what I have done and it has worked well. We now have over 300 local investors in our Facebook group and around 110 in our Meetup.com group.

Set up keyword alerts on BiggerPockets for Wheeling, WV, West Virginia, etc. When someone posts with these words and you get pinged, send them a friend request and start networking with them. And, of course, ask them if they'd like to join your Facebook and/or Meetup group and if they'd be interested in attending your free monthly meetings.

Hope this helps!